PNC Bank Renewal Gives Hope Amid Positive News for Financial Industry
By Al Barbarino September 12, 2013 7:30 am
reprintsPNC Bank has signed a 55,000-square-foot expansion lease at RXR Realty’s 340 Madison Avenue.
The expansion ups the firm’s space from 45,000 to 55,000 square feet across the 10th and 11th floors in the 745,000-square-foot building, a good sign after several years of perceived stagnation among mid- to large-sized financial services companies in the city.
“It’s nice to see a larger financial institution expanding,” said William Elder, director of leasing at RXR Realty.
By some accounts the financial services industry’s performance has been a relatively flat over the last couple of years, especially when compared with the growth seen in its heyday, but it’s perhaps not as bad as the doom and gloom of the recession entailed.
In fact, by some measures financial jobs have begun to pick up. The latest data from Eastern Consolidated from July shows that the banking and securities job markets have added almost 10,000 jobs since September 2009.
Buildings such as the Class A office tower at 340 Madison, in the Grand Central Submarket and located between 43rd and 44th Streets in Midtown, stand to benefit, particularly following a $40 million dollar repositioning which has helped retain a unique tenant mix, which includes firms as divers as software firm Sungard, law firm McDermott Will & Emery, National Financial Partners and FILA.
“It’s a mix of well-respected firms,” Mr. Elder said. “A lot of them find the convenience of Grand Central being less than a block away very convenient.”
Robert Tunis and Seth Hecht of Colliers (CIGI) International represented the tenant.
